14 July 2011

Otto von Habsburg, RIP

Otto von Habsburg, Crown Prince and Archduke of Austria, eldest son of Blessed Kaiser Karl I, the last emperor of Austria and of Christendom, died on July 4, 2011, at the age of 98. This morning a requiem Mass was sung for his soul at the Kapuzinerkirche in Vienna where his body lies in state next to that of his wife. It is truly the end of an era, the end of an era which began more than 1,200 years ago with the coronation of Charlemagne on Christmas day, 800. It is the end of an era that has been ending since 1789, that ended again in 1806, and again in 1917. 2011 is the end of the end of an era; it is the end of the end of Christendom. And we mourn its passing.